The UK has published updated guidance governing Immigration Enforcement’s use of live facial recognition to locate people of immigration law enforcement interest, setting out rules for watchlists, deployment locations, human oversight and biometric matching thresholds.
The new guidelines instruct IE staff on “how to use overt LFR to locate relevant people lawfully and ethically” and “support IE’s and the Home Office’s legitimate immigration enforcement aims.
The policy also makes clear that Immigration Enforcement’s use of live facial recognition is not confined to ports of entry.
The guidance also provides for cooperation with police forces, including joint deployments in which Immigration Enforcement can supply watchlists for police facial recognition systems or process police-supplied data through its own systems.
The arrangements extend the potential operational reach of facial recognition in immigration enforcement while requiring deployments to remain subject to the policy’s safeguards.